The Officium defunctorum by TomÃ¡s Luis de Victoria, published in 1605, is one of the masterworks of the musical Renaissance, which still moves us with it's austerity and expressive power. It was written "in the style of a swansong" for the funeral rites of the composer's patroness, the empress Maria of Austria, sister of Philip II and widow of the emperor Maximilian II. For the first time in a recording, La Grande Chapelle and Schola Antiqua place the work in it's liturgical context, restoring the two original days: the vigil for the dead and the mass which concludes with the rite of absolution. The funeral rites celebrated in Madrid in 1603 are evoked, by means of respecting the original performing forces, the inclusion of the lection, the responsories and the psalms written by Victoria himself, and the use of plainchant taken from sources of the period. This reading brings us closer in a new way to one of the most important dynastic ceremonies of the Spanish Habsburgs of the beginning of the 17th century.

Tracklist:

Domine labia mea aperies
Deus in adjutorium meum intende (fabordÃ³n a 4)
Work(s)~Invitatorium. Circumdederunt me / Psalmus 94: Venite, exsultemus Domino
Lectio I. Parce mihi Domine
Responsorium I. Credo quod redemptor
Lectio II. Taedet animam meam
Responsorium II. Qui Lazarum resuscitasti
Lectio VII. Spiritus meus attenuabitur
Responsorium VII. Peccantem me quotidie
Work(s)~Antiphona: Exsultabunt Domino / Psalmus 50: Miserere mei Deus
Work(s)~Antiphona: Ego sum resurrectio / Canticum: Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel
Officium defunctorum (Missa Pro Defuctis)~Introitus: Requiem aeternam
Officium defunctorum (Missa Pro Defuctis)~Kyrie
Officium defunctorum (Missa Pro Defuctis)~Graduale: Requiem aeternam
Tractus. Absolve, Domine
Sequentia. Dies irae
Officium defunctorum (Missa Pro Defuctis)~Offertorium. Domine Iesu Christe / V/. Hostias et preces
Praefatium
Officium defunctorum (Missa Pro Defuctis)~Sanctus - Benedictus
Officium defunctorum (Missa Pro Defuctis)~In elevatione (motectum): Versa est in luctum
Officium defunctorum (Missa Pro Defuctis)~Agnus Dei
Officium defunctorum (Missa Pro Defuctis)~Communio. Lux aeterna
Postcommunio. Dominus vobiscum
Officium defunctorum (Missa Pro Defuctis)~Responsorium. Libera me, Domine

UPC: 8435307611147
Label: Lauda
Release Date: 10.9.20
Format: CD

Victoria / Recasen / Asensio - Officium Defunctorum (CD)